November 11, 2016

Precision Medicine: A focus of future collaborations

A high priority for both PUHSC and UMHS, Precision Medicine was a large focus of the JI Symposium this year. In addition to keynotes delivered by PUHSC President Qimin Zhan and UMMS Dean Marschall Runge, three panel sessions also explored various aspects of precision medicine.

Precision medicine experts from both institutions joined JI leaders for an Oct. 14 brainstorm session to discuss future JI collaboration opportunities in this important area. President Zhan, who is leading a national precision medicine initiative in China, shared the current status of that project. Dean Runge and other invited experts from U-M also discussed ongoing precision medicine efforts at UMHS. The group broadly discussed the struggles and challenges associated with moving precision medicine forward in both the US and China, including expense, infrastructure, workforce, policy, ethics, etc. Leaders agreed that researchers at both institutions could learn from each other’s challenges, and that cooperative problem solving could advance the field for both institutions.